South Africa has taken another quiet but powerful step toward true equality. On 11 September 2025, the Constitutional Court ruled that husbands can now legally take their wives’ surnames, something that, until now, was simply not possible under the law. It might sound like a small change, just a matter of paperwork, but it touches something much deeper: how society defines family, identity, and partnership.
For decades, the default assumption in our country mirrored an old patriarchal tradition, a woman marries, she takes her husband’s name, and that’s the end of the story. Men who wanted to honour their partner by carrying her surname, or couples who wanted to share a double-barrelled name, had no legal pathway to do so. The law itself said no. With this ruling, the highest court has acknowledged what many couples have long believed: marriage is a union of equals, and names should reflect choice, not custom.
@the_scent_central Replying to @tripolley1 #tiktoknews #marriage #hudbandandwife #courtissues #satiktok🇿🇦 ♬ original sound - The Scent Central
South Africa has been moving in this direction for years, breaking down legal and cultural barriers that reinforce gender inequality. Allowing men to take their wives’ surnames is more than symbolic. It is about dignity, freedom, and the right to define love and family on your own terms.
Of course, it will take time for systems and traditions to catch up. But this moment is a reminder: equality is not just about sweeping reforms, it’s also about the everyday details, even the name you carry.
Fellow South African's had a lot to say this about this law and while Parliament has 24 months to amend the law formally, the reactions to the law have been... lets rather say...Interesting.
As indigenous black South Africans have limitless white colonial problems which are now being imposed and managed on us through the Constitution and the Constitutional Court. How can a man take the surname of the wife. Women will now be expected to pay lobola for their husbands🤔
— 💜Mao jnr🇿🇦 (@Remiazania2) September 11, 2025
On a lighter note, South Africans don’t waste time. This man followed the ruling of South Africa’s highest court, which allows husbands to take their wives’ surnames, overturning the old law that stopped them. Lobola was paid for him, eish South Africans and trending though. pic.twitter.com/JssWvMkW69
— BookmaakSA (@Bookmaaksa) September 11, 2025
South Africans are yet to fully understand todays constitutional court judgement...in essence if you don't take your wife's surname then you are a misogynist sexist pig still living in the past...why do u think all these political parties are quiet???
This ruling is nonsense, and will not benefit south africans except foreign nationals who marry our sisters. We respect our culture, and I think there will be very few South african men or women that will allow husband to take their Surname, totally an unnecessary ruling
— Jan van Riebeeck (@akaTheSettler) September 12, 2025
😂 y'all crying about tradition/culture when surnames are a colonial construct to begin with, if we went back to tradition, it would be something like:
— Jama (@RastaFourEyes) September 11, 2025
Zizi ka Khuze
Khuze ka Sibalukhulu
Etc
what you should be worried about is criminals who wanna be South African fraudulently https://t.co/PwcuTPg4EV
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